Kamal Nath rules out any cap on number of SEZs

New Delhi, Oct 5: Commerce and Industry Minister Kamal Nath today ruled out fixing any cap on the number of Special Economic Zones in any category, including in the field of Information Technology.

''Why should there be cap on SEZs in IT, especially when the Services Sector is growing fast,'' Mr Nath asked while talking to reporters on the sidelines of the three-day Services Congress being organised by the Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO) here.

Mr Nath said the tax incentives in SEZs were meant only for the incremental investment and no shifting of units was allowed.

He said he did not agree with the argument that the tax incentives for the units in the SEZs would lead to leakage of the tax revenue. ''Investments in SEZs would rather lead to increased economic activity and incremental resources for the government,'' the Commerce and Industry Minister said.

The Board of Approvals in the Commerce Ministry has approved 180 SEZs of which most of which are specific to the Information Technology.

Earlier in his address at the Services Expo-SerinXPO, Mr Nath said the Services exports from India have increased from 25 billion dollar in 2003-04 to 60 billion dollar in 2005-06. The newly-constituted Export Promotion Council on Services would focus on a limited but focused number of Services.

UNI